Added a bunch of livestock last night:
* Sand sifting starfish
* Spider Conch
* 2x Ocellaris Clownfish
* Blue Tang
* Bubble Tip Anemone
Many thanks to Kien for the BTA, my hope is that it will host the two clowns. The clowns are captive bred and from what I understand they normally ignore anemones. The anemone decided to hoof it to an excellent spot for viewing, water flow, and light; but it also happens to be directly under my largest zoa colony
The zoas were all closed this morning so I think the anemone may have laid the smack down on it. I'm planning on moving it later today if the nem is still in this spot. The nem is in its glory right now, wide open and red and bubbly.
So far the tang has been a ghost in the tank. He likely found some tiny crevice to sit and wait out the ugly giant that was so mean to him. The clowns are out doing their thing and aren't even slightly intimidated by me. My chromis are doing the same thing as the tang, which is strange because they never actually hide from me for long. So far the conch has moved a whooping six inches and didn't move overnight at all. The starfish has made a small tour but isn't moving at warp speed either.
Protein skimmer is still a microbubble factory but it is pulling black, thick and nasty juice from the aquarium so I can't fault it for that. Going to do the vinegar wash that others have recommended for it this weekend. Hopefully that settles it down and the bubbles go away. I've been searching for another HOB skimmer and I'm tossing two different models around in my head. The Deltec MCE600 is the front runner but that price is ouch! The other skimmer I'm considering is the Tunze 9011DOC. Both have excellent reviews on the net and I like the Tunze brand but the deltec has tons of features that the Tunze doesn't.